


Walk Down the Lane with a Happy Refrain

by MagitekUnit05953234



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Give Ignis a proper white cane 2k18, Gladio's grating pity buy one get one free, Post-Altissia, References to Suicide, Self endangerment, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, but only through dialogue, there is no intent or threat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 15:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16244192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagitekUnit05953234/pseuds/MagitekUnit05953234
Summary: The wind blows hard and Ignis tips forward with the force of it. He clutches the lip of the roof with hands slowly going numb from the chill and tries to calm his rapidly beating heart.





	Walk Down the Lane with a Happy Refrain

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "rain" from Tumblr user raneam-o1's gothic prompt list.  
> Not my best work but I wrote it at like 3 am  
> Title from "Singin' in the Rain" by Gene Kelly

Ignis hates sitting in the rain, but that’s just why he does it. 

He’s perched on the roof of The Leville with his legs hanging off the side. Getting up there and navigating his way to an edge without assistance is nerve-wracking at best, but if Ignis doesn’t learn how to get around when Noctis is asleep then Ignis won’t be around for Noctis when he is awake. 

The rain is the worst. It’s rained near-constantly since the Rite of Leviathan, and Ignis’s just can’t stand it. It makes the ground slick, it makes Ignis’s hair fall into his  ~~ eyes ~~ eye, and it fills the air with so much noise that Ignis can’t even  _ hope _ to hear where anything is in relation to himself. 

The wind blows hard, and Ignis tips forward with the force of it. He clutches the lip of the roof with hands slowly going numb from the chill and tries to calm his rapidly beating heart. 

There’s no time for regret. No time to wonder what could have been had Ignis only made some other choice. The moment Noctis awakens, Ignis has to be there strong and dependable as ever. He has to learn how to live like this, starting with how to walk in the rain. It’s doable. It has to be.

The rain soaks into Ignis’s clothing and the feeling of his shirt plastering against the scars  ~~ already healed somehow but still aching ~~ burned into his left arm is enough to make Ignis’s skin crawl. 

Ignis pulls himself up from his sitting position and turns to the right slowly. He shuffles one foot in front of the other, too hesitant. Too slow. 

The door to the roof slams open, and Ignis startles. His right foot slides on the soaked brick beneath him, inches from the edge of the roof, but Ignis regains his footing. 

“What the hell are you  _ doing _ ?” Gladio’s movements are loud, his footsteps sloshing through the accumulating water. Ignis is pulled away from the edge of the roof by a warm hand clasped around his bicep. “Are you trying to fucking kill yourself? Shiva’s tits, Ignis.”

“If I were looking to die I’d pick a much neater method them throwing myself off a building in the middle of Altissia,” Ignis stops walking just a fraction of a second after Gladio, barely avoiding a collision. “I have too much to do to go around dying anyway.”

“Don't joke about this,” Gladio’s grip on Ignis tightens. “You can’t— you can't just go walking around on rooftops in the middle of a fucking storm because you've got some sort of death wish. We've had enough people dying already without this.”

“It’s not a death wish, Gladio,” Ignis wants to pulll away from Gladio's grasp, but can't quite make himself carry through with the desire. “I’m working on my ability to navigate difficult terrain.”

“Hell of a place to do it.”

“I would call this the perfect place. It’s difficult terrain.” Ignis feels something being pressed into his hand, slick and cold with rainwater.

“I went looking for you to give you this. It’s not a proper cane really, but it’s better than nothing. Use it or don’t, just get off this damn roof,” Gladio lets go then and Ignis is thrown back in a void of rain and chill winds without Gladio’s touch as a focal point in the chaos. Ignis hesitantly taps the cane —or perhaps it’s a walking stick— on the ground in front of him and can tell almost immediately that this thing isn’t meant for assisting the blind at all. 

Well. Gladio tried. 

“Are you coming?” Gladio asks.

Ignis steps forward and hates the cane immediately. It  _ has _ to be a walking stick, meant for support, and not meant for guiding. Ignis doesn’t even know how to use a real white cane anyway. What was the point of giving him this?

For the sake of Gladio's pride, Ignis at least pretends to use the walking stick the way Gladio expects. If something doesn’t go right for Gladio very soon, Ignis is pretty sure he’ll shut down and three out of the four of their party being out of commission is a disaster Ignis doesn't want to consider. 

There’s a clap of thunder, and the downpour intensifies in earnest. Ignis still hasn't managed to learn to walk confidently in these conditions, thanks to Gladio’s intervention. 

Ignis will just have to wait until the next time Gladio isn't looking and try again. 

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Twitter [@compromisedunit](https://mobile.twitter.com/compromisedunit)!


End file.
